page_title: Paper Towns
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Paper Towns / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: John Green speaking at the 2014 VidCon on June 28, 2014.
context_page_description: Paper Towns is a novel written by John Green, primarily for an audience of young adults, and was published on October 16, 2008, by Dutton Books. The novel is about the coming-of-age of the protagonist, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen and his search for Margo Roth Spiegelman, his neighbor and childhood sweetheart. During his search, Quentin and his friends Ben, Radar, and Lacey discover information about Margo.
  John Green drew inspiration for this book from his experience and knowledge of "paper towns" during a road journey through South Dakota. It debuted at number five on the New York Times bestseller list for children's books and was awarded the 2009 Edgar Award for best young adult novel. A film adaptation was released on July 24, 2015.
context_section_description: Throughout the novel, the concept of paper towns is mentioned several times. As a former Orlando resident, John Green had seen and heard of many "paper towns". His first experience with a "paper town" occurred during his junior year of college while on a road trip. In South Dakota, he and his friend came across a paper town called Holen. At the end of the novel, John Green states that the story of Agloe presented in the text is mostly true: "Agloe began as a paper town created to protect against copyright infringement. But then people with these old Esso maps kept looking for it, and so someone built a store, making Agloe real."
caption: John Green, author of Paper Towns
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